There was a comment left a few weeks back in comments regarding the whereabouts of defenseman Jan Zapletal who seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth after spending most of last season with the Vsetin organization in the Czech Republic. Well, Zapletal is playing in the Czech 2.liga (third tier) for VSKA Technika Brno where he has 1 goal and 4 points in 19 games with 28 penalty minutes and an even rating.

Defenseman Marek Posmyk, whom you might remember was acquired along with Mike Johnson in the Darcy Tucker trade many moons ago, is still playing in the Extraliaga for Ceske Budejovice (now going by the name HC Mountfield) where he has 8 goals and 12 points in 36 games with 67 penalty minutes and a -10 rating. Incidentally, looking through the Extraliga leading scorers, I can't believe Robert Reichel is still alive and playing hockey.

In Switzerland, forward Eero Somervuori is still making bank for Ambri-Piotta of the NLA where he is third on his team in scoring behind former Falcons star J.G. Trudel and former Thrasher Hnat Domenechelli. In 40 games Somervuori has 13 goals and 30 points with 16 penalty minutes.

Oh by the way, Sascha Goc is leading his team in scoring in the German DEL. In 30 games with the Hannover Scorpions the oldest of the Goc boys has 16 goals and 38 points with 87 penalty minutes and a +6 rating. I'm half expecting an e-mail from the shadowy Mr. X telling us we might want to put Goc back up on the prospects page too.

Big news came down today from [url=http://www.tampabaylightning.ru/main.php?lang=e] tampabaylightning.ru[/url] webmaster Alexander Chelukanov regarding reports out of Russia that Alexander Polushin has been released by CSKA and picked up by Severstal Cherepovets.
With that in mind, here are some other transfers which have taken place with the Lightning's prospect system so far this summer:

Published reports out of Switzerland and [url=http://www.jatkoaika.com/smliiga.php?sivu=uutiset&id=4062]Finland[/url] speculate that RW Eero Somervuori will depart Karpat at the end of the SM-liiga season for the Swiss NLA league. According to the newspaper Kaleva, Somervuori has already signed to play for the club team Ambri-Piotta next year.
Somervuori is [url=http://www.sm-liiga.fi/tilasto.asp?otsake1=Kausi+2004%2D2005+runkosarja&sarja=1303&maingroup=0&group=1&parm=6&stats=70] currently third in scoring on Karpat behind Petr Tenkrat and Jussi Jokinen with 12-22-34 in 48 games. [/url] The Finnish website jatkoaika.com points out Somervuori has struggled recently since being moved off a line with NHL veteran and former Lightning player Michael Nylander but Somervuori still places in the top-20 in scoring in Finland. Karpat is currently 2nd on the SM-liiga table 5 points behind Jokerit for the top spot in the waning days of the season. Their regular season ends on March 9th at Pori Assat before the playoffs begin.

Ahhhhh, my first European Hockey Update away from the third world dictatorship that HF has become. Lets begin:
All in all, the beat goes on in Europe for the Lightning's prospects. They have some excellent overage properties like Somervuori, But and Norrena but have yet to see the explosion from youngsters like Polushin and Kazionov they might've hoped for. The exception to the rule is 2004 entry draft 6th rounder Karri Ramo, who is emerging as one of the two best young goalies in all of Finland after having a remarkable performance at Traverse City.